About the Foundation

News flow on Pakistan these days is mainly focused on a variety of crises – macroeconomic issues ranging from high inflation to low foreign exchange reserves and debt crisis, political uncertainty, and a range of social sector problems, to name a few.

In this din of noise, it is easy to forget the latent potential and strength of the country. For example, Pakistan has the world’s 5th largest population; it is the world’s 3rd largest producer of milk, 5th largest producer of sugar cane and cotton; 6th largest producer of dates and mangos, and 7th largest producer of wheat. Pakistan also has the world’s 2nd largest coal reserves and 7th largest copper reserves.

Yet, the country ranks significantly below par on the Human Development Index, displays below par economic development, below par public sector governance, below par societal cohesion and civil society engagement, and below par economic mobility opportunities, leading to rising wealth and income gap

In our view, the heart of the problem is a lack of human resource development. The country has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, the lowest enrollment rates in schools, the lowest enrollment in higher education, and the lowest female representation in education & workforce. This has led to insufficient leadership capability at scale nationally, inadequate skill levels for a modern economy, and low productivity levels due to both lack of, and poor quality of education and training. Read More